Trelai Primary School, Cardiff

Trelai Primary School is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 308 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

60% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 13% have additional learning needs (27% in 2020/21); 25% are learning English as an additional language; and 38% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 33 pupils (Year 2) to 48 (Year 3).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £5,133 per pupil, against £4,080 in 2021-22. It carried forward £127k of reserves at the end of 2024-25.

Estyn's report on its October 2023 inspection summarises Trelai Primary School like this:

"Trelai Primary School is a calm and happy place for pupils to learn and develop safely and successfully. School leaders, teachers and support staff know each child well and understand how to nurture individuals to get the best from them. Pupils are happy in school and, over time, they become confident to try new experiences and contribute fully to school life. Staff understand the community the school serves and recognise the challenges many families face. They offer pupils a broad range of interesting experiences that help them to develop the skills, knowledge, understanding and resilience that they will need to thrive in the outside world."

"This contributes to the good progress pupils make, often from very low starting points. The headteacher and senior leaders form a strong team that drives improvement and expects commitment from others. To achieve this, members of the leadership team lead by example and offer effective support to staff, governors, pupils and families. The school’s thorough approach to self-evaluation means that leaders and governors know the school’s strengths and areas for development well. They have built a very good track record of improvement in recent years and brought about considerable change that has led to significant progress in many important areas."

"The school’s current priorities for improvement are relevant, but they cover too many areas of its work, so it is sometimes challenging for staff to focus on what matters most. Staff provide sensitive and purposeful support to pupils who need additional help. They track pupil progress well and this helps teachers to adapt their teaching to the needs of pupils. Teaching is strong overall, although provision to develop pupils’ deeper understanding of mathematical concepts is less effective. Senior leaders work relentlessly alongside staff and families to improve attendance, but this area remains a challenge for the school."

Estyn made 3 recommendations: (1) Secure the progressive development of pupils’ mathematical understanding so that they can apply their numeracy skills confidently in variety of contexts; (2) Sharpen the focus of school improvement priorities; (3) Continue the school’s rigorous work to increase attendance.

The nearest other state primary schools to Trelai Primary School are Millbank Primary School (0.4 miles), Herbert Thompson Primary (0.6 miles), Windsor Clive Primary School (0.8 miles) and Ysgol Gymraeg Treganna (0.8 miles).

The nearest railway station is Waun-gron Park Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.

10 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Trelai School (before), 130 metres away.